Not completely happy with my new Sweeter Heater

[Scotty from BI]

I was excited to get this product because it looked like it had great potential for my two day old chicks. Now that I have it I am less excited. The temperature was not evenly distributed. There were high temperature spots that went up to 200° and for the last 5 inches at the end of the heater there was no heat whatsoever. So in effect it is an 11 x 35 inch long heater not a 40 inch heater the last 5 x 11" which equals 55 in.² was not heated in the least... I mean none. When I called sweeter heater they said this was normal and to be expected. The description said it was evenly distributed heat it all the way across which I now know it is not and it has significant dead spots in this case the whole end of it for the last 5 inches is just cold plastic. I used a Kintrex infrared thermometer model IRT0421 sold on Amazon to measure the heat. This is a very accurate measurement device.

I think I will go to the heating pad cave solution

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Another reason for me to stick with my trusty heat lamp.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

What do your chicks think about it? Are they peeping like are cold?
Because it really does not matter what you think....

I bet they are fine.

Gary

 

[Scotty from BI]

What do your chicks think about it? Are they peeping like are cold?
Because it really does not matter what you think....

I bet they are fine.

Gary

Hi Gary, Fair point. I have not received my chickens yet so I can only surmise that if it gets pretty cold at night,they are going to want the sweeter heater to be warm to all four edges. Also, at least a couple are going to be sweating under that 200° spot.

 

[song of joy]

Just wondering - are these temperature readings on the surface of the panel or where the chicks would be?

I've used these successfully for 4 broods of chicks over the past two years, including in late March in an unheated chicken coop. For cold outside temperatures, I usually start by having the heater suspended about 6 inches off the floor, and check the warmth with my hand held about 2 inches off the floor (where the bodies of the chicks would be). For warmer outside temperatures, I've had to start with the panel at 8+ inches off the floor. By the time the chicks are a couple weeks old, the unit is usually suspended 12 or more inches off the floor. The cooler areas of the panel (usually around the edges) are actually helpful, as the chicks can adjust their position to be comfortable.

I hope this works out for you, as I know these units are pretty expensive.

 

[Scotty from BI]

Just wondering - are these temperature readings on the surface of the panel or where the chicks would be?

I've used these successfully for 4 broods of chicks over the past two years, including in late March in an unheated chicken coop. For cold outside temperatures, I usually start by having the heater suspended about 6 inches off the floor, and check the warmth with my hand held about 2 inches off the floor (where the bodies of the chicks would be). For warmer outside temperatures, I've had to start with the panel at 8+ inches off the floor. The cooler areas of the panel (usually around the edges) are actually helpful, as the chicks can adjust their position to be comfortable.

I hope this works out for you, as I know these units are pretty expensive.

Thanks Song of Joy. I am only referring to the surface of the heated lens that looks like cottage cheese on the bottom, where the chicks would be. Did your unit have a similar cool or cold section like mine which involved about 5 x 11 inches on the side?

In fact it would probably work just fine for my chicks, but I intend to use it for the big girls in winter so I could use the entire length of it to provide even heat.

 

[song of joy]

OK. That makes sense. The chicks should never be in direct contact with the lens as it gets too hot.

It seems like there were cold areas initially, but if I recall correctly, the whole lens heated up over the course of several hours. I suspect any cold spots became warm due to the adjacent warm areas.

I've never used heat in the coop over the winter. The "big girls" just don't need it, as they're built to be able to withstand the cold. They even did fine a couple of years ago when temps dropped to -20 F. The biggest threat in winter is frostbite on the combs and wattles due to inadequate coop ventilation and the resulting moisture build-up.

 

[Pyxis]

In fact it would probably work just fine for my chicks, but I intend to use it for the big girls in winter so I could use the entire length of it to provide even heat.

Sorry that you're not happy with the heater, I don't have one so I can't offer my opinion there, but I did have a question about how you intended to use it. Why are you wanting to provide heat for the adults in winter? Full grown chickens don't need heat in the winter, and in fact for several reasons it's not a good idea to do so.

 

[Scotty from BI]

Sorry that you're not happy with the heater, I don't have one so I can't offer my opinion there, but I did have a question about how you intended to use it. Why are you wanting to provide heat for the adults in winter? Full grown chickens don't need heat in the winter, and in fact for several reasons it's not a good idea to do so.

I agree that grown hens do not need heat on their bodies since they have those nice down feathers. But one year I did have a hen with a frost bitten comb. I know about moisture and cold temps etc. I live in the Pacific Northwest so we have mostly moderate winters with an occasional cold snap from time to time. My coop is exposed on three side with wind breaks inside around the roost. There are no drafts but the air temp can get iffy and with a dozen or hens and the Seattle air is quite moist even though they are completely protected from rain. So, since these heaters are only effective for a few inches, a well placed heater can heat the combs without over heating the torso of the birds. A rather nice solution in theory at least.

 

[Englishable]

I've used these successfully for 4 broods of chicks over the past two years, including in late March in an unheated chicken coop.

I'm curious if you're still using these and what you think now a year later. We recently purchased two of the 11x40 ones to use in brooder boxes out in our unheated chicken coop. We had 10 chicks hatch last week and we moved them out to the coop Friday morning. I checked on them just about every hour throughout the day, and they seemed more or less fine: they were grouped together under the heater but they weren't noisy and they weren't shivering or panting. But Saturday morning 8 were dead and a few hours later the other two died as well I'm devastated and trying to figure out what happened since we have 42 more eggs in an incubator set to hatch in two weeks.

Have you ever been able to get a temp reading under the heater? My husband used both an instant read meat thermometer and an infrared thermometer and while the surface temp of the Sweeter Heater was around 160, nothing under it ever measured above 60. I think the chicks froze to death but I am stumped as to why. All of my research suggested this would be the solution we had been looking for and it clearly wasn't.

We are now considering the Mama Heating Pad solution others have posted on here, at least until we can figure out these Sweeter Heaters. We may just return them though because you're right, they are not cheap!